The Story of Turbine Panda By Jeff Ferry, CPA Chief Economist In April 2018, a Chinese intelligence agent named Xu Yanjun got off a plane in Brussels, Belgium and headed for St. Catherine Square, a bustling area of shops and quaint cobblestone streets. Xu had a meeting planned with one of his assets, a US-based…
Excerpt:The tariffs are speeding the evolution of U.S. steelmaking into a world-class, state-of-the-art industry. Steelmakers, like U.S. Steel and AK Steel, have eliminated some jobs. But the cuts are being made to older, less-efficient plants. Media commentators often criticize the Trump Administration’s steel tariffs. But the evidence from around the United States shows that the…
Editor’s note: Jim Cramer of Mad Money says the president should just walk away from the China talks and raise the tariffs as planned on December 15. Which is exactly what should be done. The strong November jobs report shows Trump has more flexibility in trade negotiations with China, CNBC’s Jim Cramer says. And because…
Editor’s note: Apple should express full throated support for the 301 tariffs placed on China for IP theft. But it has not. SAN JOSE, California (Reuters) – Apple Inc on Monday told a federal court it has “deep concerns” that two Chinese-born former employees accused of stealing trade secrets from the company will try to…
Over 260 Industrial Companies Thank Trump for China Tariffs Washington. Hundreds of US manufacturers have jointly signed a petition to President Trump reiterating their support for Section 301 tariffs on subsidized imports from China. In a letter to the president, sent ahead of a planned December 15 tariff increase, more than 260 domestic manufacturers expressed their “sincerest appreciation”…
Editor’s note: CPA signed this letter, led by R-CALF USA, in favor of country of origin labeling (COOL). The WTO struck down the US COOL law several years ago in a case of judicial activism. The WTO agreement does not prohibit labeling, but the WTO judges did not merely interpret the agreement but created new…
Job Quality Instant Report: Job Creation and Job Quality are up in November Total non-farm payroll employment rose by 266,000 jobs in November, substantially above the median market expectation of 185,000. Within the private sector, goods-producing employment (mining and logging, construction, and manufacturing) increased by 48,000 jobs, while the service-providing sector created 206,000 new jobs.…
Editor’s Note: Really bad piece by Krugman defending the good old days of globalist free trade and offshoring. “This system worked well for many years.” No remorse for loss of important industries that we invented. Or job quality erosion. It’s all about the power — and the cronyism. [Paul Krugman | December 5, 2019 | NY…
Editor’s Note: In our view, the decades long situation of the excessively strong dollar is a major culprit, degrading our trade performance which disproportionately degrades the goods producing sector… which then dumps formerly full time employees onto the service economy. Realigning the dollar, like Reagan did in the 1985 Plaza Accord, would reverse the trade imbalance…
Excerpt: President Trump should take the next step: executive action to realign the dollar to a more competitive level. Our nation’s farmers and manufacturers urgently need help in a tight, global economy, as this opinion piece asserts [Michael Stumo | December 5, 2019 | Lifezette] Wall Street didn’t enjoy President Donald Trump’s announcement earlier this week…